Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration has launched an expanded warming center program, amid Philadelphia’s first significant snowfall of the season and ongoing frigid temperatures.
Twenty locations, including Free Library branches, senior centers and other sites, are serving as places for homeless individuals and others to get out of the cold. A few of the sites are open 24/7, while most are either operating during the day or overnight.
“This cold is not just uncomfortable,” City Managing Director Adam Thiel said Tuesday at one of the locations, the Juniata Parker Older Adult Center. “It is deadly. It is dangerous. So this is a crisis for folks who don’t have a place to go and get out of the weather.”
Staff at the warming centers hand out food, blankets and other supplies. They also offer intake for unhoused people to access a shelter bed or other emergency housing, city officials said.
“This has been needed,” said Cheryl Hill, executive director of the city’s Office of Homeless Services.
Residents who may be living without heat, or subject to a power outage, can also take advantage of the centers, the Parker administration noted in a news release.
The first two warming sites opened Sunday and served 43 people, according to the city. On Monday, when the full 20 opened their doors, about 1,000 people stopped in, Hill said Tuesday.
Officials indicated that the facilities were selected so that there was least one warming site in each City Council district.
Inn of Amazing Mercy (115 E. Huntingdon St.), Hub of Hope (1400 Arch St.) and 220 North Broad Street serve as warming centers 24/7.
Nine libraries – South Philadelphia, Walnut Street West, Widener, Northeast Regional, Nicetown-Tioga, Logan, Bustleton, Blackwell Regional and Haddington – are open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The overnight sites, from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., are Scanlon Recreational Center, Di Silvestro Playground, Wright Recreation Center, MLK Older Adult Center, Russo Recreation Center, Lonnie Young Recreation Center, Juniata Park Older Adult Center, Finley Recreation Center and Pelbano Recreation Center.
Nonprofit organizations, such as Philly House and Broad Street Love, have offered similar services during cold stretches, but Thiel said the Parker administration wanted to expand the city’s offerings.
OHS has already declared a Code Blue, which activates 24-hour outreach teams, opens up additional shelter beds and permits homeless people to remain indoors at shelters throughout the day.
Hill said the city added 125 shelter beds in advance of the most recent snow storm. Philadelphia’s shelter system typically has about 3,000 slots but adds hundreds more during the winter, she added.
Temperatures are expected to remain low, with highs in the mid-to-30s through the week. The National Weather Service’s Philadelphia/Mount Holly Office said on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tuesday afternoon that there is a “50-60% chance” of more snow this coming weekend.
Philadelphians who notice someone living outdoors can call the city’s homeless outreach hotline at 215-232-1984. Officials encouraged residents to call 911 if they believe someone is having a medical emergency.
